311 magnum ???

marba

marba

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Hi, everyone .
I'm looking into 311 magnum . P14 reamed out .I don't want my peepee slapped for asking some stupid or simple questions.I have two friends that have 303 improved and they preach about them.How the sun rises and sets about the 303 improved.I have been reading about taking a 300 win mag reamer and reaming and making 311 mag. So,there is neck issues on the resizing.Okay ,now don't start picking on me for my question. I have a friend who has been in the armed forces and the rcmp ,he shoots .308 bullets in his .303 enfields with great success.so, if you ream a p14 to a 300 win mag and shoot .308 bullets out of it would that fix the neck problem? I know .308 and .311 are different.its only a question, thank you for your time Marba

BE SAFE FOR THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS
 
Not stupid questions - this has been done many times. The 303 Improved is like a 308, and the "303 Win Mag" is like a 300 Win Mag.

Run a 300 Win Mag reamer into a P14's chamber and do whatever feed rail, feed ramp and mag work is required to get it to feed well. You could use 308 bullets and get crappy accuracy, or you could neck ream 3 or 4 thou off your brass and shoot correct 312 bullets.

I'd just forget it and buy a used 300 Win Mag.
 
A .300 Winchester sizing die with a .311 expander ball should do the trick without having to ream the case necks. If you want to get the fastest .303 on the block, use a .30/378 or a .300 RUM chamber. If you want to have the coolest .303 on the block use the .300 H&H. The .303 Imperial Magnum I believe used the .404 Jeffry case in a similar configuration as the .300 RUM.
 
Boomer said:
A .300 Winchester sizing die with a .311 expander ball should do the trick without having to ream the case necks.
Click to expand...

You don't ream case necks to get proper bullet fit, you do it to get safe chamber neck clearance. The 300 Win Mag reamer gives adequate neck clearance for a 308 bullet (usually 2-4 thou). Insert a 311 or 312 bullet and you lose 3-4 thou of clearance which with most reamers is all you had to start with.
 
Andy said:
You don't ream case necks to get proper bullet fit, you do it to get safe chamber neck clearance. The 300 Win Mag reamer gives adequate neck clearance for a 308 bullet (usually 2-4 thou). Insert a 311 or 312 bullet and you lose 3-4 thou of clearance which with most reamers is all you had to start with.
Click to expand...

Good point, I hadn't thought of that.
 
Try a post in Parts and Bits, or All Other Stuff, in the Exchange.

I'm with Andy. Forget dumping money into the old iron, in the name of a "custom" and spend the coin on a 300 Win Mag, if that's what you want.

Or buy a decent, new barrel for it, and do a project up worth doing.

Yer lookin' at a project that only really makes a lot of sense if you already have a bunch of stuff in hand, like the reamer (figure $50US if you can find them, used, on up), and dies (Custom, $$$, butchered std dies, less). Add a few hours of a smiths labor to the mix, and you are really getting into a spend, for what you end up with. You are getting close to what you would have to pay for a cheap rifle (think Stevens) new, or a used average grade rifle.
Own two rifles in two calibers, or possibly have one rifle in a bastard caliber, for the same money?

Cheers
Trev
 
I have a 7 mm Mag, 300 weatherby Mag, already.Friends of mine that have 303 improved already,they want a couple more rifles in 303 improved,so spliting the cost with them ,HELPS.Then ,we have another friend that does the work. So, myself I'm looking at reaming out for the 300 Win Mag .But,they are trying to convince me to go with 303 improved.
 
Last time I checked, Epps wanted about 115$ to redo a P-14 to Epps improved. This included modifiying the feed rails, which seems to be the most crucial aspect of the job, and the weak point of most conversions.
 
Marba, don't let me stop you from haveing fun, go ahead and do whatever you want to, just have fun doing it.

The rifle in question will work for what you want to do and work very well. The real concern will be finding "GOOD" bullets that will perform well under the stresses they will be subject to on the new cases.

To my knowledge, .312 diameter bullets are designed to work efficiently at pressures around 47,000 psi give or take a few thousand psi. They are also built for the spin rate generated at velocities between 2500 - 2800 feet per second. They may fly apart in flight or tumble on impact.

I think you're trying to save some money on a new barrel, understandable.

Save your money on the whole thing and buy a used rifle that approximates what you're trying to achieve, such as a, shudder, Savage in 300WSM.

bearhunter
 
Epps still does this conversion ...it's called the 303 Canadian Magnum...it is a 308 Norma case expanded to take the 311 bullet and allow use of the existing rifle barrel. Very safe and neat conversion. I've got some catalogue literature from the early 60's if your interested.

I've just finished a stock for a fellow who had a 300-303....used a 300Weatherby case. Feed rails were openned up and it used a magnum box. Was done by Epps many years ago.....feeding was flawless.

Go for the conversion...these attract a lot of attention and hold their value.

Cheers, Ron
 
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